


At Last My Love Has Come Along

by goblinesque



Series: The Cute Waitress [1]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-07
Packaged: 2018-01-23 18:37:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1575482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goblinesque/pseuds/goblinesque
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frederick Chilton visits his favorite little diner where the cute waitress always sneaks him free cups of coffee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. At Last

Every Thursday Frederick Chilton made his way to the little old diner that was a bit out of his way from home. The vintage 1950s theme seemed to be pulled right out of an old photograph. Coca-Cola posters and pictures of vintage cars lined the walls. Elvis played over the speaker and the bright ceiling lights caused the small flecks of glitter in the black and white tile to sparkle. The waitresses were forced to dress the part of a '50s waitress. Pastel dresses that fit a bit too tight had been a hit with the truckers and older gentlemen that frequented the little hole in the wall off the main highway.

The atmosphere always held a welcoming and bubbly atmosphere. It was a place that could be considered "cute" more than realistic. It was a business keeping its head just above the water by using the out of town crowd's love for cute places and cashing in on historical fiction.

It wasn't the vintage atmosphere that brought him to this little diner every night or the slightly overcooked food. It was for the cute brunette waitress that had so nicely slipped him free cups of coffee after long, stressful nights at the hospital.

Carolyn was her name, though most everyone in the diner had referred to her as "Lynnie" or the boring "Baby" by the older gentlemen that frequented the dining establishment.

He'd noticed the waitress off and on when he'd come in. At first, he'd catch himself staring at the way her pale yellow uniform stopped at her mid-thigh and then later he found himself giving her small smiles after he watched her and another waitress clumsily collide which had caused sweet tea to spill all over the floor and on her uniform.

There was something that he found a bit endearing about her. She seemed genuine. He'd catch her smiling and laughing at whatever the other waitresses were talking about. On one occasion, he watched happily as she showed off her "mad" dancing skills to Ritchie Valen's La Bamba while revealing that she had no knowledge of the Spanish language at all with every word she sang that wasn't "la bamba" or "arriba".

Her La Bamba dance had been his favorite memory of her and it had made him finally realize that he had developed a crush on the working class girl in the yellow dress. He'd wanted to learn everything about her. He wanted to teach her how to correctly dance to the La Bamba and how to pronounce the lyrics that she had previously butchered.

He wanted to teach her the dance, but his cane stopped that dream, along with the fact that she probably did not give him a second thought after she made sure that he was satisfied with his meal. He resigned himself to believe that their conversations were just simple small talk to pass the time for the both of them. It was just simply for politeness.

He felt a smile tug at his lips as he watched her sashay towards him with the pot of coffee for his second cup of coffee. He noticed the sparkle in her brown eyes as her smile greeted him. He quickly stole a detailed glance at her face as she poured his cup of coffee into his cup. A scar lay hidden above her left eye, the outline from where it had been stitched were faint as well as a small scar that lay just under her bottom lip.

"I had to run out here before my boss catches me," she informed him with a hushed voice as she looked over to where the aging owner sat on his butt and watched everyone else work, "He's out for a cigarette so I have just enough time to check up on my favorite customer."

He smiled at her as he watched her wink at him. He wanted to ask her out. He needed to take the plunge. It was like that saying about how it only took a bit of insane courage. He could do it. The words were on the tip of his tongue. He could ask her to dinner and a movie, to dinner and a drink, to dinner and a dance, to Spanish dance lessons, or even just for a drive around town.

Baltimore could be a nice scene if he had the right company beside him to take in that scenery.

"I bet you say that to all of your customers," he heard himself answer in a teasing tone.

He was actually flirting with her.

"Nope. Just you, Doctor."

The way she called him doctor sent prickly little chills up the length of his arms. She was actually flirting with him. He couldn't believe it! She was actually flirting back despite his cane.

"Dinner was delicious as always," he informed her, though it was a bit of a stretch of the truth. He had better dinner elsewhere.

"I'm glad you took my advice and stopped eating the trash that you were ordering," she whispered under her breath. He didn't notice how she edged just a bit closer to him and leaned a bit lower to speak to him.

He smiled up at her sparkling eyes as he recalled the night she had suggested that switch meals. She had told him that they had missed him and had told him that everyone thought that he had died. He remembered how her eyes instantly fell to his cane and she became embarrassed. He had let the redness flush her cheeks before he joked about it to her. It had been the first time that he had been able to talk about the incident without that initial surge of fear when people asked about his condition.

"Well I needed a change anyways," he said as he patted at his stomach where his scars remained as constant reminders.

He didn't notice the quick solemn emotion cross her face as he patted his full stomach. He missed how she quickly covered that sudden sadness with a smile as he looked back up at her.

"Lynnie," Frederick heard the owner demand.

"Well," she stated with a sigh, "I'm being summoned. I wish we could have talked longer, Doctor."

He watched as she turned away from him. The dress of her skirt swished with her turn as she sashayed away from her. He couldn't help but allow his eyes to study her while she wasn't watching.

"Oh," he heard her announce as she turned back to him, he quickly jerked his attention back to her eyes, "Are you going to need a to go box?"

Frederick looked towards the pie selection and said with a smirk, "A slice of lemon would be great, Carolyn," he chuckled and patted his stomach, "Though I really don't need it."

"Oh come on, Doctor," she teased, "A man with a little belly is the most attractive thing a man can have."

She seemed to be flirting with him, but he couldn't get over the what ifs of the situation. What if she was just being nice? What if she was just doing it for the big tip he left her?

It wasn't long until she came sashaying back to him. He could see how red her cheeks were as if something had happened to her in the short time that she had left his company.

"Here ya go," she said quickly as she handed the box to him and quickly turned away from him as if she were running for her life from a madman.

He looked down at the Styrofoam box that his waitress had quickly handed him. The words "Open" looked back at him in blue ink and curly, feminine script. He could hear the cackles of the other waitresses and he could feel the kitchen staff looking at him to see what his next move would be.

He smiled as he opened the box to see a small note that she had left at the top of the box. The small note made his heart stop momentarily. It seemed as if all of his fears had disappeared in that moment as her words registered into his mind.

'Small talk is for the 1950s. Dinner and a show at the jazz club off Main Saturday?

Call me. 443-555-6610

Your Favorite Waitress, Carolyn.'

He could hear the screeches of the other waitresses as he removed his cell phone from his jacket pocket and quickly saved her number. It seemed as if his lonely streak was coming to an end and his life could only get better.


	2. Earth Angel

Carolyn Long felt the burning sensation in her cheeks from the happy embarrassment as she listened to her co-workers tease her about her date. The sound of the knife banged against the tiles of the old white prep counter as she chopped up tomatoes. The red juices stained her fingers as she rushed through her nightly chores and the faint smell of dirt from the tomato's previous home danced through her nostrils.

"So lover boy's picking you up here? I'd be concerned if he wasn't such an old fuddy duddy," she heard Cheryl, the oldest of the waitress, ask of her. She could see the hint of excitement in the older woman's tired eyes.

"Yep," she answered with a growing smile, "that means I've got to hurry and get this crap done so I can change. I bought the cutest dress just for the occasion," she chuckled as she thought of how childlike she sounded, but she continued on in the same excited tone, "You have no idea how excited I am for this night! I've waited so long. I can't believe he actually called me! He didn't text me! He called me," she rolled her eyes at her own ramblings, "I really hope this works out."

"Well you've been pining' over him for months," Cheryl said, "Everyone was starting to take a bet on whether or not lover boy would ever catch on."

"I'm really nervous though," Carolyn heard herself admit as she looked away from the older woman that had on so many occasions given her advice on life, "I just really want this to work out. If it doesn't," she shrugged her shoulders, "I think I'll have to swear off men forever."

"It's going to be fine," Cheryl informed her with a reassuring pat on her shoulder, "Soon you'll be Mrs. Dr. Cute Asshole!"

She smiled at the older lady and shook her head as she recalled how all the other waitresses complained about having Frederick Chilton as their customer because he was always so picky about what was put on his plate. He'd never been picky with her. They'd always had polite conversations and he'd never complained about the food. He'd always been the perfect gentleman to her.

She thought back over how many long conversations that had passed between them when it was late at night, close to closing time when it was just the two of them in the dining area. He'd told her bits and pieces about his life, about the hospital, the accident, and plenty of corny jokes that she laughed wholeheartedly at just because they came from his devilishly kissable lips. She'd told him things about herself, about how she was going to go back to school in the fall to continue on with her degree in criminal law.

"Uh! I can't stop shaking," she heard herself complain as she watched the knife shake in her hand, "I'm just so nervous!"

"You deserve this Lynnie," Cheryl informed her, "After everything, you are the one person in this hole that deserves a great guy for once."

As the words soaked into her head, she felt her heart fall just a bit. She'd never had luck picking men. She felt the small ache in her heart as she thought of the man that she had a date with. She so badly wanted him to be Mr. Perfect that it hurt her heart to think about him being another Mr. Wrong.

"I hope you're right," she stated simply as she wiped the tomato juice from her fingers upon her apron.

"Hey," Cheryl stated with a smile, her voice took on a motherly quality, "I'll take care of your chores. You go get dressed."

"Cheryl, you don't have to-"

"Go get dressed to knock lover boy out when he gets here," Cheryl interrupted as she took the knife from Carolyn's hands.

She smiled at the older woman that had two teenage daughters of her own. She could feel the sparkle in her eyes as she watched the woman take over her boring chore.

"Thank you," she whispered as she pulled herself away from the waitress station and towards the old break room where she had hung her dress up.

She cut through the kitchen and smiled at the cook, Sammy.

"You goin' to see your boyfriend tonight," Sammy asked, his voice was deep and reminded her too much of Louis Armstrong.

She smiled at him. She loved when Sammy teased her about her favorite customer. He'd tease her for the way she seemed to bounce about when Frederick was present or how her face was going to split in half from smiling so wide. She'd never tell him that she enjoyed the teasing though.

"He's not my boyfriend," she repeated the same banter for what seemed to be the millionth time.

"That big ol' smile of yours says otherwise," Sammy teased as he pointed at her face.

She forced the smile away, but was unsuccessful and shook her head just as her cheeks turned red once again from the happy embarrassment.

"Wish I could get a girl to smile at me the way the doc gets you to smile," Sammy informed her, "Must be that big ol' degree he's got that does it!"

"Maybe so. How 'bout I let you know," she called out to him as she hurried into the break room to grab her dress.

Carolyn grabbed her purse and her dress and hurried into the bathroom to begin prepping for her date. As she hurried to rip her uniform off, thoughts of how pathetic it was that she had to have her date come pick her up at her work place.

It didn't take long until she had the dress in place. The white fabric fell over her curves and the sleeves were long to protect her from the chilly wind. She could feel the fabric dance against her flesh as she flattened out the small wrinkles and stepped into her lucky black flats that she only wore on special occasions.

She looked to her reflection and smiled. She didn't want to seem to out of place in the little hole in the wall jazz club. She had picked a dress that was cute, but not too flashy. She decided to leave her hair in a ponytail and re-applied her make-up in an attempt to hide the tired lines on her face.

She didn't want to seem too eager to please, though she felt that way on the inside. She wanted the good doctor to see in a good light so he'd ask her out again.

She really wanted him to be Mr. Perfect. She needed him to be Mr. Perfect. Those thoughts had plagued her mind all throughout her work day.

"Hey the doc is here," Sammy announced as he knocked on the bathroom door, successfully pulling her from her thoughts, "You really ridin' into town with him?"

"Yeah," she asked as she examined herself in the mirror for the final time. She could hear her confusion in her voice as she looked into the mirror at her furrowed brows.

"You not worried that he may be some kind of psycho killer or somethin'?"

Carolyn rolled her eyes. She felt as if her eyes were going to fall out of her head as the words rippled through the wooden door. She shook her head and allowed a soft chuckle escape her as she collected her uniform from the floor along with her work shoes.

"I'm sure a killer would have better taste," she said as she turned to open the door to reveal her new attire to the cook, "than to eat the food that you slop up."

Sammy smiled at her new appearance and made a sound of aww to tease her, "Damn I should have become a doctor."

"Do I look okay," she asked as she once again flattened the skirt with her shaking hands.

"You look good," Sammy informed her with a sly smile, "If your boyfriend don't think so then kick him to the curb."

"He's not my boyfriend," she said with a large smile and then shrugged her shoulders, "Well not yet anyways."

She smiled as Sammy walked beside her. She could smell the grease from the kitchen on his shirt from his close proximity along with the soft hint of salt from the sweat that dripped from his forehead when the diner received a bit of a rush.

Carolyn could feel the excitement bubble inside her stomach as she walked out of the kitchen and into the dining area. She watched as Frederick Chilton made himself busy by pretending to be interested in the old photographs of the owner's old cars that had been collected over the years. She took in his attire. He wore the simple navy blue suit that she loved seeing him in. She observed him for only a moment as he leaned into his cane as his absorbed the figures in the old, sepia photographs.

"Dr. Chilton," she heard herself say with a bit too much happiness in her voice, she cleared her throat in an attempt to rid the over excitement from her voice, "I'm sorry you had to come pick me up, I wasn't planning on it."

She watched as the man of her dreams turned to look at her. She felt the bubble of happiness ripple through her as she watched his eyes sparkle at the sight of her in something other than her boring uniform.

She returned his smile as he replied after a few ticks from the clock on the wall, "I think you may have taken my breath away for just a moment."

She heard herself giggle at his attempted flirtation as she watched him place his hand upon his chest in attempt to be dramatic. She could feel the eyes of her co-workers on her back as she stood within Mr. Perfect's presence.

"Well thank you, Doctor," she replied as she leaned in ever so slightly, "you don't look so bad yourself, certainly a bit peppier. Am I to thank for that extra pep?"

She smiled successfully as she watched Frederick's smile grow even larger and the sparkle in his eye shine brighter from happiness that seemed like he could barely contain within him.

"Under the circumstances," Frederick announced as he pulled open the glass door for her to walk through first, "I feel as if we should explore the possibility of us referring to each other on a first name basis considering this new development in our relationship. Call me Frederick."

She felt her heart skip a beat as he opened the passenger side door for her. The butterflies fluttered in her stomach as his words rippled through her mind and the smell of his cologne danced through the night air.

She really hoped he was her Mr. Perfect.


	3. This Little World

The jazz club was filled with many couples, drinking and laughing as Frederick and Carolyn sat to the side of the small stage where the night's entertainment played various old jazz favorites. They had talked a bit about their families; it had been a bit hard for him to open up about how estranged he had been from his family in recent years, but once he had opened up to her it seemed like everything poured out of him. She hadn't seemed to be put off when he spoke about his work with some of Baltimore's most notorious monsters.

She had actually seemed interested in what he had to say. He had kept a keen eye on her facial features and body language and she had seemed to be genuinely open to his conversations.

He had been interested in what she had to say. She'd told him that her mother had passed away when she was still in junior high school. She'd told him that her father had just recently passed from lung cancer after a life dedicated to smoking Pall Mall cigarettes.

Everything seemed to be going perfect for the first time. She hadn't brushed him off. She hadn't made up an excuse about her friend going into labor like the last date he had months ago had done to him, leaving him there to pay the bill while everyone had watched her get up and leave.

Carolyn had become perfect company. He never thought that the cute little waitress from a little diner could make him smile.

Frederick looked over to the woman that had actually asked him out, an act that had taken him by complete surprise. He had taken in her curves in the white dress while she wasn't looking. He smiled at her; she'd managed to never actually catch him checking her out.

She looked like she was enjoying his company. Her smile was bright and her eyes sparkled as she looked away from him and to the band playing a Frank Sinatra song in an attempt to mix things up. He watched as she swayed to the music in her chair. He wanted to ask her to dance, but none of the other couples had gotten up and he didn't want to bring attention to his slight impediment and embarrass Carolyn.

He watched as her eyes seemed to dance over the stage as her smile grew larger. She was so beautiful that he couldn't understand how he could have ever thought she was just the cute little waitress that brought him coffee.

Carolyn seemed genuine and he really needed for her to be genuine. He'd spent so much time alone that it had become common place. He didn't have the time to feed a pet or give it the attention that it would need so he'd always come home to an empty house. He'd decided months ago that he'd live the life of a lonely bachelor while drinking coffee at the diner, but now he was contemplating how life would be so perfectly different with Carolyn in his life.

That had been before he and Carolyn had actually started speaking and having conversations when the diner was getting ready to close down. The conversations were always what he looked forward to and now they were exploring the possibility of having deeper, meaningful conversations.

His smile brightened as he looked at the small imperfect scars on her face. He could see them both together sitting on his couch drinking coffee together, snuggling together in bed watching A Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve, he could see her trying to sing La Bamba to him like she had done for her co-workers while they strolled across a beach while on vacation, and he could see them just simply being happy in each other's company like things seemed to be now.

That world could be wonderful if she could ever fall in love with a schmuck like him. Being in Carolyn's company made the world seem smaller as if it had been made just for the two of them.

The feeling was new to him. He had one love in college, but she'd wrecked him. He hadn't felt like it was just the two of them like he was feeling with Carolyn Long. She'd entered his life with a cute smile just to sneak him free coffee.

"I'm really glad you said yes, Frederick," he heard Carolyn announce as she quickly turned to him. He watched her smile widen as she reached out to him and placed her hand on top of his.

His name on her lips sent chills down his spine. Colleagues had said his name with such disdain; she said it with genuine sweetness. Her hand on his sent chills down his spine and for a moment he lost all sense of time as he felt her fingers lightly dancing over his flesh. It sent momentarily dirty, bedroom thoughts through his mind.

"I'm glad you asked," he answered as he cleared his throat in an attempt to rid himself of those thoughts, "I've been meaning to ask you on a date for a while, but," he rolled his eyes ever so slightly and gave her a half smile, "most women brush me off, and I was afraid you would have said no."

He had no idea why he had been so brutally honest with her. He moved his free hand to take a drink of his bourbon in an attempt to rid himself of the awkward embarrassment that he felt inside. His cheeks reddened against his will as he downed the rest of the bitter brew in his glass.

"Why on earth would I say no to you," she asked with a chuckle as she removed her hand from his and took a drink of her rum and coke in a successful attempt to relieve him from the embarrassment that he had felt rush through him, "I was worried you'd say no to you."

He almost choked on his bourbon as her words registered in his mind. She'd actually been worried that he would say no to her.

She really did like him as much as he liked her! He'd been waiting his entire life for a girl like her to come into his life just like the old Foreigner song that his teenage self had been so obsessed with.

His heart beat quickened as that fact registered within him. He could finally escape the dark clouds of loneliness if he could keep her in his life.

"Undoubtedly we were both wrong about each other," Frederick said as he watched her give him a soft smile.

"Undoubtedly," she replied in a teasing tone as the music ended from the stage.

His heart felt like it was going to jump out of his chest like that dumb Big Bad Wolf in that old cartoon that his cousins had watched endlessly through their childhood.

"Who'd have thought that an old office girl turned waitress would finally get a date with a handsome doctor," Carolyn teased.

"So that's where all the office girls have run off to," he heard himself joke as he bravely reached for her hand and held it within his, lightly rubbing his thumb against her skin like she had done to him, "maybe I should start telling all the bachelors in the psychiatric circle that beautiful, bright young office girls have run away to work at old diners."

"Careful, Dr. Chilton," she said with a large smile as she looked down at his hand upon hers, "They may try to nab me away from you."

"Where's all the beautiful couples at," the lead singer announced to the crowd as he scanned the small club.

Frederick looked up to stage, finally looking away from his date, as the jazz singer looked through the crowd. He felt comfortable holding her hand upon the table.

"Isn't love a beautiful thing," the man asked to the crowd and he was answered with clapping and a few ye-haws from a few drunken men in the back of the crowd, "That's what I'm talking about!"

He looked back to Carolyn and watched as she continued clapping and smiling at the man on stage.

"Like look at this couple right here," the jazz singer announced as he pointed to the table beside them and the light shown upon the elderly couple, "How long you been together?"

"This is our first date," the older man answered with a light chuckle as he reached over to grab his wife's hand.

"First date," the jazz singer asked with gleeful disbelief.

"Every day together is like our first date," the elderly lady said with a chuckle as she patted her husband's wrinkled hand, "but tonight is our 49th wedding anniversary."

The crowd clapped at the answer and several awes could be heard from several of the women that surrounded them.

"Aww," Frederick heard Carolyn whisper as she turned back to him and patted his own hand, "They are so cute!"

"And you come here," the jazz singer asked in teasing disbelief and laughter escaped the audience once again, "Nah, but seriously you two are beautiful! Love's a beautiful thing."

Frederick felt the hot light down on him as the entertainer made his way to them.

"How long you two been together," he asked, "and don't give me no shit about first date! I can already hear the weddin' bells playing at the church across the street."

He watched as Carolyn laughed. He waited for her to let go of his hand, but she never did. She looked over to him with a sparkle in her eyes and then back to the entertainer and shook her head as she informed him that it was indeed their first date.

"What you talkin' bout Willis," he asked and the crowd chuckled at his impression. The singer looked over to Frederick and shook his head, "Look man, I don't know what it is you got, but whatever it is, you are one lucky man!"

He smiled at the man's words as he turned to look at Carolyn who seemed to be enjoying the attention that was being given to them. The bright light intensified her beauty as he looked at her. She really was a vision in white and the bright light only made her look more of a stunning angel than he had originally believed.

Why had he ever thought that she was just cute?!

"Look at this girl," the man demanded of Frederick, "You see those eyes?"

Frederick smiled as he looked into her shining, bright eyes.

"She's got the shine man, you better hold on to this one," the jazz singer announced as he backed away from the two and moved back to the center of the stage, "Let's hear it for the shine people," clapping radiated through the club, "Here's a song dedicated to all the couples out there."

Frederick watched as Carolyn shyly looked down into her lap and closed her eyes as her cheeks reddened. He couldn't help but smile at her embarrassment just as the band started to cover What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.

He felt like the world had grown smaller between them. He'd just been thinking about how his life would seem like a wonderful world with her in it, and the jazz man had talked about her shining eyes, and then played the wonderfully beautiful song about a bright future that loneliness could not blacken.

"You wanna get out of here," he heard her ask with a coy smile painted upon her face, "I have a lemon pie that I bought from the diner at my place if you want desert before we say goodbye."

He smiled at her and nodded as he reached for his cane and paid the tab. They left side by side holding hands as the song continued to play them out. He could smell her soft perfume as they walked side by side and he could feel her warmth radiating through her body as he held her hand within his.

He'd never had a date that was so nice before. It was so different. He'd never been invited into a girl's home for pie before and that little sentiment brought a proud smile to his face.

He was doing well for his first date after a long drought. The next hard part would be their parting kiss. He wasn't so sure if he was ready for that part yet. He was a talented kisser, but he'd always had a hard time warming up to someone before he gifted them with one of those amazing kisses of his.

...

Her house was just outside of town in a little suburb and it hadn't taken long for him to arrive. She had told him that her father had left her the house after he had died. The house was cute. Shrubs grew in front of the porch which gave the house an old Southern charm about it.

He walked her to the door with his cane in hand and stopped as he watched her dig into her purse for her keys. As she did so, she was thanking him for the good time that she had with him. He leaned on his cane as he watched her jiggling with the door knob.

"I haven't had a good time like that in a very long time," she admitted with a sigh as the door finally unlocked.

Frederick smiled at her and grabbed her hand before as she opened the door and entered her home. She pulled him inside and closed the door behind him. The house was dark and the only light that cast upon them was the artificial light from the porch. He watched with studious eyes as she looked down at his hand and then slowly turned her attention on to him. He watched her eyes fall from his eyes and look at his lips as she waited for him to make the first move.

"I could not have asked for better company," he informed her as he edged closer to her and gently pushed a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. He watched as her smile slowly faded as she closed her eyes and looked to the ground as if fear had found her.

He felt a strange sensation overcome him as he leaned closer to her. He looked down at her features as she waited for his next movement. He watched her nostrils flare with each intake of air she took. He could see the small scars as he looked down at her in the artificial light that escaped from the porch light.

"Carolyn," he said as he placed his hand under her chin and silently pleaded with her to look up at him with her beautiful, shining eyes.

He felt relief overcome him as she looked up to him and whispered with a husky tone, "I've had the hugest crush on you for so long. I really like you, Frederick," she shook her head as she leaned in closer, "I really want this to work between the two of us."

He smiled at her. She was truly genuine.

He closed the space between them and whispered, "I have something to tell you."

He could see the slight worry and confusion come over her face as he a moment to beat between them in an attempt to come off as dramatic to her.

"What is it," he heard her ask as her eyes travelled back and forth from his eyes to his lips.

He knew she wanted a kiss, but he wanted to make her sweat just a bit longer. She looked so kissable as she looked at his features, silently pleading for him to close the space between the two. The urge to kiss her passionately was rushing through his veins.

"I don't smile a lot."

"What," she asked with a confused chuckle, "You've been smiling all night with-"

"I was smiling because of you," he admitted.

His co-workers could say that he was full of himself or that he was a jerk. It was just part of the job. Outside of his career, he was lonely and starving for attention and care.

The urge to kiss her overpowered him as he watched her eyes glisten from his confession. He leaned inward and placed his hand upon her cheek. He softly kissed her lips as his hand slowly travelled down her throat and lingered at the crook of her neck, where it stayed caressing her warm skin. Her lips were soft and the faint remains of rum still lingered on her lips for him taste. He could hear her breath catch inside of her chest as he moved his lips upon hers. He pulled away from her for less than a moment only to resume kissing her. He felt her hands touch his stomach and linger there as the soft kiss continued on for a few seconds longer.

He had never wanted anyone to touch or see his stomach, but he felt a tingling sensation move through his surgical stars as her hands grazed over them through his shirt. He removed his lips from hers and placed a small kiss upon her ear just before lightly nipping at her earlobe.

Something was so different about this experience than anything he had ever experienced before. No words needed to be spoken as he felt her hands move from his stomach and up his chest were his heart beat like thunder across the land.

He watched as she looked up at him and smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him, successfully closing the remaining space between the two of them.

He could feel the smile on her lips as she kissed him again with the same passion. There was no battling for dominance. It seemed as if they were made to kiss each other. Their lips moved as if they had practiced beforehand. He felt a red hot surge of lust bolt through him as he tasted the rum on her lips and listened to the soft moan escape her.

He dropped his cane to the floor and placed his hand against her shoulder and lightly pushed her back into the wall. Their kiss broke for only a second before they returned to each other. His knees shook as he kissed her against the wall. She stood on her tip toes and her legs shook as they bent from their awkward position against the wall as their kiss deepened.

Frederick felt her break the kiss and look down to his fallen cane. He felt electricity running through his body like lightning had touched down between them.

"Do you need it," she asked through shaky breaths as she looked away from his fallen cane and back to him.

"Not like this," he whispered through choppy breaths into her ear as he placed another soft kiss upon her lips and smiled at her before asking softly, "Can I see you again?"

He watched as she smiled at him and whispered as if he had taken her breath away "Please."


	4. Is This Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I haven't figured out how to italicize on here. So "~~~" shows a flashback.  
> Also I'd like to thank drivemytardis on Tumblr for translating for me

Frederick sat at his desk and lightly chewed on his fingernails, a habit that he hadn't performed since he was in grad school. He could hear the clock ticking on his wall as he sat at his lap top half listening in on Will Graham's conversation with Alana Bloom.

Someone of more importance than the suspected Chesapeake Ripper danced across his mind for once. The cute waitress danced across his mind in those cute pink pumps that she had worn while they swayed to the music after their date. He could hardly focus on any of his work as he thought of the confession that she had so freely given him last night.

When he talked with one of the tamer patients, he'd thought of her cool hand caressed within his. When a nurse asked him about his cheery attitude, he had thought of her swaying hips and her chest against his as the music had played.

Everything that he had done, during his work day he'd thought of her. He thought of the way that she had smiled, the way that her perfume lingered in the air after she had left, the way her hair felt as he ran his fingers through her curls, and he thought of the many ways that she could have brought him to her knees with that twinkle, that shine, in her eyes.

They had gone on five dates since that passionate first kiss that had taken his breath away. He hadn't expected to kiss her in that way. He had planned something simple, just a peck that a grandmother may give to her young grandchild. The first kiss that they had shared was far from what a grandmother should ever give to her grandchild. It was something that he'd never experienced before, not even with his first love.

Everything with her was something like he never experienced. He didn't want to say she was perfect because that was putting her on this pedestal and she didn't deserve to be placed high up in the air as if she were some untouchable trophy.

She seemed to have crawled into his lonely heart and made a nest there. He'd made the habit, with her permission of course, to come into the diner at closing time to drive her home after her long shifts. It was the first time that he hadn't minded going out of his way for someone other than himself. She was becoming an important part of his daily routine.

He felt as if he could still smell her perfume on him and the tingles shot through him once again as he thought of the night that he had originally believed that he had ruined with his big mouth that could never find the perfect words when he was nervous.

~~~~~

His hand absently brushed through Carolyn's curls that had fallen from her messy pony tail, that he had secretly freed while she was beautifully enrapt in the black and white film that played on his television. He could smell the coconut flavor of her shampoo that still lingered in her hair as she lay against his chest.

He didn't need to see the movie. He knew what was going on; he'd seen it plenty of times before by himself. He wanted to see her reactions to one of his favorite films. He watched her as she smiled at the cheesy, romantic parts.

She was beautiful. He still couldn't believe how at one point in time he had seen her as just the cute waitress!

When he looked at her he thought about all those elderly men that he'd seen waiting at a booth for their wives to finish whatever errand that needed to be run and how they had told him about what a good woman would do to a man, about how that woman would make him feel so damned silly forever believing that there was someone out there that was any kinder, any sweeter, and any sexier. When they found out that he was still single, they told him that somebody was waiting for him, that she was there waiting for him to put the newspaper down at the diner and talk to her or that she was just in the next car beside him at the red light.

He'd only ever give them a quick smile and a nod then pretend as if he were on his phone, but now their words were repeating in his head as he ran his fingers through her finger and listened to her small intakes of air as she surrendered to the comfy resting place between his arms.

He really hoped that the men were right about the girl at the diner that had been waiting for him to speak to her.

"It is a bit funny," he said with a soft chuckle.

"Hmm," he heard her ask with a husky tone as she peered away from the movie and up to him with those sparkling eyes, "What is?"

"I was just thinking," he said as he looked down at her, "I first noticed you dancing at the diner," his smile grew as she righted herself and looked into his eyes as she waited patiently for his next words, "You were dancing to La Bamba and you looked like such a goof!"

A moment of silence faded between them and his laughter died immediately as he took in her features. His heart stopped beating as he watched her smile and the shine in her eyes fade from existence. He felt the color drain from his face as she pulled away from him.

He'd screwed up and he didn't know how to undo this major screw up. Damn his big, know it all mouth!

"You think I can't dance," he heard her ask, her voice was flat as she stood from the couch and walked away from him.

He was going to lose her if he didn't act quickly.

"I did not mean it like that Carolyn," he said as he watched her retreating form stop. He watched as her shoulders sank as if he had really hurt her feelings.

"Okay smartass," Carolyn called out as she turned on her pink heels with a shiteating grin on her face, "You think I can't dance, then teach me to dance."

Frederick felt the color come rushing back to his cheeks as he watched her place her hands upon her hips. She looked proud at the dare that she had just thrown at his feet.

"You can talk big shit, Frederick," she stated as if it were common knowledge, "but can you back it up, I wonder?"

She wasn't going to leave him like he had originally thought. She simply wanted him to prove that he was a better dancer, though he would never admit that to her ever!

"Are you sure about this, Carolyn," he asked as he used his cane to stand up and walk towards her.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, "And no cane either, Frederick."

He smiled at her facial features. It was clear to him that she had spent way too much time with him. Her sassy little facial movements mirrored his almost exactly. They were rubbing off on each other. She had learned to be blunt with him and he had learned to give into whimsical moments, only in her presence of course. He wasn't going to run off in the rain and dance. That was a bit too whimsical for him. No 'Singing in the Rain' dancing for him!

"Hold on," she whispered as she turned her back on him for only a moment, giving him a moment to take in how her simple pink dress shaped her rear end.

Frederick watched as she moved his coffee table out of the way and pulled her cell phone from her purse.

"I'll just stay here then," he said with a soft chuckle.

"Shut up," she teased with the same soft chuckle as she swiped across the glass screen of her phone, "We need music to dance to. Are you going to sing while we dance?"

"I could," he answered without missing a beat, "Don't threaten me, Carolyn. I will do it out of spite."

"Oh believe me, I've heard you sing," she teased, "If you sing to me, you'll end up on your back and we'll never get this dancing spat settled."

"I fail to see how that's a bad thing," he asked as he watched her come back to him.

She pulled his cane from him and whispered, "If you need to stop, just tell me, okay?"

"I think I can handle one little dance," he said as he felt her lean in close to him. He held his hand out to her and shivered ever so slightly as she took his hand gently.

"And what are we dancing to," he asked, "Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Ritchie Valens?"

"Do you really think my musical tastes are that simple," she asked in a whisper as the music slowly faded into the room.

He smiled at her as the strangled laugh escaped him. The classic rock ballad rippled through his immaculate house as they slowly began to sway to the beat of 'I Want to Know What Love Is'.

"This is a surprise," he teased as he felt her body move easily with his. Arousal was slowly dripping through his veins as he leaned against her for slight support, and he was happily relieved when she did not pull away from him, though he had already learned that she was a lot nicer and accommodating than most of the women that he'd casually been with before.

"Hey," she said with a cute snap, "it could be Reo Speedwagon so shut your mouth."

Worry slowly crept over him as he thought about stepping on her feet. He'd surely ruin the evening if he broke her foot.

"Well thank God for that," he whispered in her ear just as he lightly placed a soft kiss upon the top of her ear lobe.

He almost missed her body's reaction to his kiss. She'd shivered at his caress and he took that as a sign to continue on with his touches as the music grew. They swayed together, chest to chest, as the singer sung from his soul. The words from the song that Carolyn had selected seemed to be all the words that he held inside of him when he was around her.

He could hear her heels lightly grazing across his floor as they moved across the floor. Their bodies fit together perfectly as they danced as if the universe had made them to dance together. The warmth that radiated from her caused his arousal to slowly bubble inside of him. He so desperately wanted for them to fall into the couch and do exactly what the song was saying.

"Frederick," he heard her whisper into his ear, her hand quickly fell from his shoulder and slowly gravitated towards his belt loop.

Her saying his name in that husky voice made him weak in his knees. He felt the blood rushing away from his head and rushing into his lower regions as her finger slipped through his belt loops. He so desperately wanted her to grasp something else.

He stopped swaying to the music as he felt her hand slip away from his. He stood still with closed eyes as her hand swept through his hair, messing it up as he had done to hers. He could feel his eyelashes fluttering as her fingers touched his face so softly like no other lover had done.

He felt her lips upon his and he quickly wrapped his arms around her, closing the space between them as the rock ballad played on. He allowed her to control their movements as she slowly pushed him into the wall the way that he had first kissed her. His hands caressed her warm body and he felt like he was going to explode from the amount of emotions that was coursing through his body.

Love and lust boiled inside of him as he fidgeted with the zipper on her dress. His hands shook as if he were a teenager fumbling at a bra in the back of an old car with his first girlfriend.

The same fiery passion that had ignited their first kiss was coursing through this one. They melded perfectly together as her fingers burned trails down his cheek. He moaned softly into her lips as he felt her other hand pulling at his belt and unbuckling it. He needed the contact like he never needed anything before.

He'd actually found someone that could put up with him. He found someone that was his lightning in a bottle. With each kiss and hug they shared it added to his beautiful storm of a life.

He actually had fallen head over heels for the cute waitress that snuck him free cups of coffee when he could have easily paid for it. Fate had given him somebody that he hadn't realized that he had needed.

He wasn't lonely anymore.

They moved together to the music and she pushed herself into a door. He opened his eyes at the sudden smash of her back against the wood. He smiled down at her as he watched her nostrils flare as she fought with the door knob.

"Wrong bedroom," he whispered as he leaned into her and kissed her once again.

"I don't care," she whispered through kisses, "Just hurry and find us somewhere."

He wanted her as much as she wanted him. He could feel her heart beating in her chest as she held on to him like her life depended on it.

"I want you in my bed first," he heard himself whisper, "Having you wake up naked in my bed, under my sheets, is a dream that I won't give up so easily on, Carolyn."

She blushed at his words and smiled as he finally opened his bedroom door to reveal to her a clean, white walled bedroom with a king size bed with a light blue comforter set covering the mattress. They danced together in an embrace towards the bed as their kisses deepened. He quickly pulled off his shoes like a horny teenager as she stepped out of her pink heels.

Frederick felt his tie tighten as she tried to remove it.

"Shit," she whispered as he settled himself upon the bed with Carolyn standing between his legs, "I can't get this stupid thing off."

He watched as her shaky hands tried to untie his tie, but she failed each time. He chuckled at her as he quickly pulled his tie off. She smiled at him and placed her hands softly against his cheek as she leaned her forehead against him.

"If we need to stop or take a break," she whispered as she looked down at his covered stomach, "all you have to do is tell me."

He nodded and smiled at her. She actually cared about how he was going to feel throughout their new shared experience. He'd never had a woman actually care how he felt during sex. He always made sure that the woman was comfortable; the question took him off guard.

She really did care about him like no other person.

"I am sure we won't have a problem," he whispered as he glanced down at his growing erection as he leaned back onto the bed, allowing Carolyn to climb on top of him and place herself over his hips.

"Good," she whispered in his ear as she pulled his shirt out of his pants and quickly unbuttoned and pulled it off of him. He smiled as she placed his shirt to the side instead of throwing it on the floor like some of his casual flings had done.

He felt himself burning up as she trailed kisses down his throat. He wanted more than anything to feel himself inside of her. He needed her.

His hands trailed through her hair and down her throat as she slowly, painfully moved against his growing erection. The feel of the pink fabric felt like the mythical silver lining that kept a cloud in its place. He so badly wanted to pull her dress off and touch her soft flesh.

Their fingers intertwined as Carolyn kissed down his chest and towards his scars. He closed his eyes as her lips lightly grazed over the ugly imperfection on his skin. He sucked in a breath of embarrassment as she kissed each stitch mark as if she were personally apologizing for the horrors that he had undergone at the hands of Abel Gideon.

"What's wrong," he heard her whisper as the warmth of her caresses ceased, though the trails of those touches still burned on his body as a constant reminder that she was conquering him.

"It's just I find myself a bit," he looked down at the scars and his words trailed away as he watched her eyes take in the scar that etched across his belly.

"I don't care about the scars," she whispered as her fingers lightly danced over his skin.

Frederick felt as if she were an angel. He watched as she pulled her dress off of her body very slowly. As the pink fabric moved over her head, he could see the faint line of a scar just below her belly button. His hand instinctively moved towards it and he looked up at her in confusion.

"There's a reason that I'm not an office girl anymore," she explained as her hand wrapped around his, "Our scars have the ability to remind us that the past was real, and it reminds us that we are survivors."

She smiled at him and placed a kiss upon his lips as he quickly unhooked her bra. He had no need of fumbling like a teenager to remove the fabric that stood between him and her warm flesh. He knew exactly how to get a woman out of her bra after years of fumbling with casual flings.

He did the same with her frilly pink panties. He now had a beautiful, naked woman on top of him. He looked up at her with sparkling eyes. He wanted to touch every inch of her that the dim light from the living room was casting upon her.

How could he ever think of this beautiful woman as just the cute waitress?!

He felt relieved as she took the next move and removed the rest of his clothing. He softly moaned as she sat herself on top of him and she chuckled at his moan and covered his mouth with her own.

"You'll wake the neighbors, Frederick," she whispered with a chuckle before she moved against him.  
~~~~~

The night had been beautiful. She'd stopped multiple times, an act that teased him like no other act had ever done, just to make sure that he had been okay. He didn't have to take breaks, but he did have to slow down, more to make the moment last rather than for himself.

"Well look at little Freddy," Abel Gideon's voice pulled him away from his intimate thoughts, "There have been whispers but I have finally gotten to see that there is a little nugget of truth to them."

"And what whispers would those be," he asked as he took in the figure of the man that leaned lazily against the bars of his cage.

"That you have a little bird in the nest," Abel answered with a smile, "Is she a chubby little bird?"

Frederick rolled his eyes at the man's words. He'd been able to keep his cool around the man that had got inside of his belly, but he wasn't ready to have this conversation with the man.

"I heard that she's a waitress," Abel informed him with a knowing smile, "Is the great Dr. Chilton come down from his mountain on high and now eating out the common folk? I must say this isn't like you, Frederick. I'm a bit worried."

"And why do you feel worried about me," Frederick asked as he watched his patient smile at him.

"I always worry about you Frederick," Abel answered, "Why do you think I sedated you? I could have just opened you up and left you to die. So in a way it's my doing that brought you to the little waitress. You should be thanking me for that pink lipstick on your ear. I'm the reason that little bird is polishing your worm."

Frederick's hand quickly wiped at his ears instinctively to remove the lipstick that he had missed during his morning shower. He smiled as he thought of the morning that he had with Carolyn.

"I'm proud of you Frederick," Abel informed him as if he were a proud father, "It's always nice to know when a friend had a good-"

"Dr. Chilton," an orderly interrupted Abel and pulled his attention away from his patient.

He turned with a smug smile and looked towards the orderly.

"Dr. Lecter is here to speak with Will Graham," the orderly informed him.

"Thank you Matthew," he answered with a nod just as he turned to look back at Gideon.

"Just a word of advice," Abel offered with a sparkle in his eyes, "I find it more a lot more effective and cheaper in regards to happiness to just shoot the little bird with a pellet gun instead of buying them jewelry."

"I think we are just about done here," Frederick informed him as he pulled himself up from his chair with his cane.

"Give the little bird my love," Abel called after him with a smile.

Frederick shivered at Abel's dark words as he exited the room to meet up with Dr. Lecter to discuss Will Graham further. He instinctively pulled at his ears again to remove the rest of the lip stain from his skin, but a smile grew across his face as he thought about the beautiful night that had occurred between Carolyn and him.  
~~~~

Frederick felt his lover move in her sleep. He slowly woke from his sleep to see her bare back facing him. He was never a cuddling person, but he felt the need to be close to her once again come over him as he looked at her messy hair that he had ran his fingers through so many times during their night together.

"Carolyn," he whispered as he reached out to her and touched her skin just to make sure that it wasn't a dream.

He still couldn't believe that he had someone as great as her to make his life less lonely.

"Frederick," he heard her sigh through her sleepiness as she slowly turned to face him.

She looked even more beautiful than he had ever seen her before as she lay naked under his sheets. He could smell her perfume that lingered on the both of them as she moved towards him and ran her fingers through his messy hair just as he had done so many times during their love making sessions.

He felt like a happy child on Christmas morning as he looked at the woman in his bed. She was the best gift that he had ever received and he had no idea who to thank for her in his life.

"Good mornin'," Carolyn whispered as she snuggled against his chest as he pulled her closer towards him.

"Good morning," Frederick greeted in the same soft tone and placed a small, thankful kiss upon her ear lobe.

"I never took you as a snuggly bear," she whispered into his bare chest as her fingers ran absently through the hair on his arm.

"Usually I'm not," he informed her with a smile upon his face, "but these are completely different circumstances. It's not every morning that I get to wake up to a beautiful woman in my bed that I don't have to imagine being there."

She chuckled at his words and lifted her head up to place a good morning kiss upon his lips that still tingled from their night together.

"You know you talk in your sleep," she informed him as she placed her head back on his chest.

"I do," he asked in slight confusion and worry about what he had revealed while in his sleep, "What was it that I had said?"

He could feel her chest move against his as she let out a soft chuckle.

"I haven't the slightest idea," she answered, "It was in Spanish."

He smiled as his fingers absently drew circles upon her shoulder.

"You should speak in Spanish more often," she whispered.

"I could sing La Bamba to you," he teased and he earned a soft slap against his chest in retaliation. He couldn't help the large smile that crossed his face.

"Tell me something in Spanish," she asked as she looked up to him with those sparkling eyes.

"Me encantaría verte sonreír," he suggested with a knowing smile. He felt his heart skip a beat as she smiled and giggled at his foreign words.

"So you do understand Spanish," he informed her.

"No I have no idea what you just said," she revealed, "You just sound so cute speaking Spanish in a tired, I haven't really slept through the night kind of voice."

He smiled as he watched those sparkling eyes and replied, "I said that it would be nice to see you smile."

He watched as her smile never faltered. She simply just leaned into him once again and placed a soft, longer kiss upon his lips.

"I'd love to learn to speak Spanish," she whispered in his ear as she wrapped her hands around his shoulders and pulled him closer, "Maybe next time I could speak Spanish while we are having sex."

He smiled at her suggestion. He could see himself lying in bed with this woman every morning and a tingle rippled through his body.

"Creo que te quiero," he said, confessing that he thought he was in love with her. He couldn't bring himself to tell her in English. He didn't want to run her off with this confession, but he felt something for her that he never felt for anyone else.

"Don't tell me," he heard her whisper as she leaned into him and placed another kiss upon his lips, "let me figure it out myself."


	5. You Are My Sunshine

Frederick felt a strange sense of calm that had overcome him in the last few weeks. He and Carolyn had been together for almost two months and his feelings for her had only intensified. The days had quickly turned into weeks and he smiled as he thought of the old saying about how time goes by quicker when you're having the time of your life.

The woman that had shared his bed almost every night since they first made love had affected him like no other woman had done before. Show tunes about love finally made sense to him and he had to admit that he would catch himself in his office, when his mind would drift away from the patients and his work, humming a catchy pop song or an old rock song that he heard on the radio at the diner when she would still sneak him free cups of coffee.

He'd yet to be caught humming, but he knew his associates could see the little hop in his step or the goofy smiles when he'd receive a text or a call from her. He knew the love bug had bit him hard. He didn't want to scream it to the roof tops that he was in love with the local waitress, he knew he didn't have to; people could see it written on his face.

He'd found that once Carolyn had entered his life, he was given the opportunity to make new friends. He'd been teased often by the waitresses about his tie pin. Cheryl had dubbed him Lover Boy while Sammy always made sure to jokingly remind him that he was going to steal Carolyn away from him one day. The jokes had rushed in over him after Carolyn and he had a bit of a morning delight in the backseat of his car before she went into work as if they were two love struck teenagers. Her messy hair and goofy smile had given everything away as soon as she had entered the diner and the jokes had never ceased from that moment.

Not that he minded them at all. He found her co-workers endearing and he realized that they were people that were of great importance in her life.

Frederick looked down at his watch and sighed. He could feel the small velvet box in his pocket and he jumped with excitement. He had carried it around with him for over a week and had yet to pop the question.

He pulled the box from his pocket and opened it to examine the breathtakingly beautiful, extremely old diamond ring that had once belonged to his grandmother who had come to America with hopes of a new life. He smiled as the sun light cascaded through his office window and hit the rock just right to send a cascade of colors across the wall. His heart warmed as he thought about this gift upon her ring finger and how she would most likely play with it when she was bored in the same way that she twirled her hair around her finger.

It wasn't an engagement ring, but it was something that was very close to his heart and he had always planned on giving it to the woman that he knew he would eventually spend the rest of his life with.

"Frederick," the familiar, cultured voice called from behind him and he turned with a slight startle to see Hannibal Lecter standing in the doorway with his coat over his arms in an attempt to hide the scars that one of his employee's had gifted the good doctor.

'I'd be very nervous if I was Dr. Chilton. He's getting close too. The only way you and Frederick are going to get out of this alive is if the Chesapeake Ripper is stopped."

Will Graham's words to Abel Gideon rippled through his mind as he looked at the tall man in the impeccably well-tailored suit that stood in his office. That little seed had been planted in his mind and it was now taking root as he thought back to the many strange jokes Hannibal had made and how well Gideon had known the details of Hannibal's home.

He quickly snapped the box shut and smiled at Hannibal. He hid the small bubble of uneasy fear that rippled through his stomach.

"Dr. Lecter," Frederick greeted as he waved for Hannibal to enter his office, he tried hard to keep his voice steady in the man's presence, "I wasn't expecting anyone to drop by."

"What a lovely gift," Hannibal said with a knowing smile as his eyes trailed over to the pocket that hid the diamond ring from curious eyes, "A ring signals a lot of love. It's a circle that never ends."

Frederick gave a sheepish smile as he listened to those saccharine words and nodded with a soft chuckle, "It's for Carolyn," he shrugged his shoulders and added, "I have been waiting for the perfect time to give it to her."

"It looked very old, Frederick," Hannibal acknowledged as he walked deeper into the office while Frederick kept a careful eye on him, "An heirloom perhaps?"

He forced a kind smile upon his face as he shared the small space between a man that he suspected of being a cannibalistic serial killer, "It belonged to my grandmother."

Frederick felt a fog of anticipation and worry forming between them as he looked towards the floor, keeping his eyes off of Hannibal Lecter.

"I must admit Frederick," Hannibal said while pausing for only a moment for dramatic effect, "that I have a hard time not finding it discourteous that I've yet to meet this Carolyn that you have spoken of so fondly. I feel as if I know her and yet I do not."

He felt his heart falter at Hannibal's words. A sense of foreboding came over him as he contemplated his next move with the good doctor.

"I can assure you that it's no form of disrespect, Hannibal," he admitted with a small smile, "Carolyn has a busier schedule than I would like for her to have. Sometimes I don't even know how we juggled seeing each other between our work schedules."

"I must confess that I've given considerable thought of taking it into my own hands to meet this woman you talk so fondly of," Hannibal admitted, "just to see if she's real."

Chilton felt the laugh escape from his chest and roll off his tongue as he replied, "Sometimes I wonder the same exact thought. It seems a bit too fortunate for me to have found a woman like Carolyn. Who would have thought she'd come in the form of a waitress?"

Hannibal eyed him carefully with a stern smile that painted his lips, "A good woman is a rare and beautiful thing to find, Frederick. A woman can make a man want to better himself," he paused as Frederick fidgeted slightly under his gaze, "Has the love of this woman made you want to be a better man?"

Frederick took a deep breath as he controlled his nerves and replied with a smug grin, "More than I can put into words."

He stood with controlled nerves as he listened to Hannibal explain why he had come to the hospital for the day. He felt like a child as he stood in Hannibal's presence while he talked about his dinner party plans. He felt queasy as he thought about the food that would be served at the party, but he did not let Hannibal see that disgust.

"It would be a pleasure if you and your Carolyn could join," he heard Hannibal suggest, "I'd be delighted to finally meet the waitress that has so fully captured your heart, Frederick."

He knew it would be suicide to not accept the invitation. It would give away his suspicions if he declined, and he knew if Carolyn ever found out she'd be a tad bit upset with him.

He accepted the invitation happily and led Hannibal Lecter out of his office all the while thinking how he was going to keep Carolyn from eating any of the food that would be served at the party.

...

Carolyn hummed to the overhead music as she prepared salads before she left from her morning and lunch shift. Her bones ached and her feet throbbed from the busy morning shift that she had taken in an attempt to bring in extra money.

"How much left do you have until you're paid off, Lynnie," she heard Cheryl ask in reference to her college tuition that she had yet to pay off for her current semester.

"Uh," she answered with a disgusted sigh, "about a grand. I feel like I'm never going to get it paid."

"I don't get why you don't have Lover Boy help you out," Cheryl admitted as she watched Carolyn toss the salad, "I'm pretty sure that he's good for it."

"I'm not going to ask him for that," she heard herself answer with a defensive tone about her, "That isn't fair to him and I'm perfectly capable of paying it if I pick up a few more shifts."

She felt a flicker of anger burning inside of her as she thought about the suggestion that Cheryl had given her. She couldn't ask him to do that for her. It wasn't right.

"I will just have to take more shifts," she stated solemnly as she finished with the salads.

"Lynnie," her boss called towards her.

Carolyn turned to see her boss standing up shaking his head as a delivery walked in with a bouquet of yellow and white flowers. She smiled as the delivery man asked if she was Carolyn Long. She nodded and took the flowers with a large grin as instinctively inhaled the sweet fragrance.

"He must have really messed up, huh," the delivery man asked as he handed her a small white card that went along with the bouquet of flowers.

"No," she answered with a shy smile as she quickly opened the card to read Frederick's beautiful handwriting, "He's just sweet."

She smiled as she read the card. The other waitresses quickly made their way around her to see what the doctor that had once been so standoffish with them had to say to their friend. She knew exactly how they felt about Frederick. At first they had all been against her going out with him. They had thought he was a jerk and probably a murderer on the down low, but once they saw how happy he had made her they had quickly changed their mind about her.

"What's it say," Cheryl asked as she lightly touched the flowers.

"We've been invited to a dinner party tonight," she answered with a smile as she sat the card on the waitress table, "He asked if I had a dress for the night."

"That's so sweet," Monica, a young Hispanic waitress, replied with a smile as she played with the bow that tied the bouquet together.

Carolyn smiled as she thought about how sweet Frederick was. She knew that he was her Mr. Perfect. They'd only been with each other for a few months, but she could feel a comfortable ache in her heart every time she thought of him.

"When are wedding bells going to be playing," Carolyn heard Cheryl tease.

She didn't answer as she smiled down at the bouquet of flowers.

"I love him, Cheryl," she whispered so only Cheryl could hear as tears formed in her eyes, "I've never been so happy before, but I'm so afraid that-"

"No," Cheryl whispered in return as the other waitresses slowly scattered to continue on with their tables, "You deserve all of this. You've been through so much and out of everyone on this planet you deserve this happiness."

"I just keep thinking about how did I end up with someone like him," she said with a roll of her eyes, "I mean he's a doctor and I'm just," she sighed and rolled her eyes as if she were ashamed to admit it, "and I'm just a waitress."

"Life isn't about our stations in life, Lynnie," Cheryl informed her in a motherly tone.

Carolyn smiled at the reply and nodded as Cheryl walked away to tend to one of her tables, leaving her alone with Sarah, a young high school girl.

"Oh I wish I could find a man that took me to dinner parties and bought me things like your boyfriend does for you," Sarah whispered enviously as she lightly touched a petal on one of the flowers.

As those words rippled through her mind, her smile slowly faded and a sense of worry came over her as she thought about the dinner party and what his friends would think of her. She'd never met them, but he had talked about them on occasion. They were all leading professionals in their areas of expertise and she was still just a waitress, and she wasn't even that good of a waitress.

...

Frederick felt his chest swell with pride as he watched Carolyn easily blend in with the other guests at Hannibal's party. He couldn't help, but watch her closely as she laughed at a joke Alana Bloom had most likely told.

She was breathtakingly beautiful; she was the bell of the ball in his eyes. She was no longer the cute waitress; she was the future Mrs. Chilton if he had it in his ability to keep her in love with him for the foreseeable future. The elegant white dress that she had worn for the party made her resemble an angel. He felt his heart skip a beat as he recalled the similar white dress that she had worn on their first date.

He had never worried about how she would present herself when put up against people like Hannibal and Alana. She had a wonderful mind and could hold an intelligent conversation for hours or she could tell jokes that took a knowledgeable person to understand. She could blend in with any type of crowd.

The music played around him and waiters walked around with questionable food as he stood in the corner like a wallflower at a high school prom looking at the strange finger foods that Hannibal had prepared for the guests.

Frederick shook his head as he openly contemplated the finger foods as Jack Crawford looked around at the people carelessly enjoying the meal that had been prepared.

"Needless to say I will not be eating the food," he concluded as he stood beside Jack.

"Nice to see you again, Dr. Chilton," Jack answered in a bored tone as he observed the room around him.

He chuckled as he watched Hannibal walk up to Alana and Carolyn in an attempt to entertain them further, "Hannibal the Cannibal, that is what they will call him, you know?"

"Not according to Abel Gideon," Jack informed him in a matter of fact tone.

"Gideon has given me enough trouble for one day," he answered as he recalled how Gideon had quickly changed his story after Jack had come to interview him, "the fact that he lied to you makes me even more certain that he was telling Will Graham the truth."

"Why did you come here tonight if you are so convinced? And I take it that you've spoken with Carolyn about this," Jack asked as his eyes roamed across the room to stop upon the woman that Frederick had walked in with.

"Darwinism," he answered casually, "I do not want him to suspect that I suspect anything. Carolyn knows nothing. I thought it best to keep her out of these types of horrible realities of my work."

"So how are you keeping her away from the snacks," Jack asked, seemingly amused to Frederick's ear.

"We had a lovely dinner at a little bistro before coming here," he said with a shrug as he watched Carolyn take a sip of wine, her lip stick left marks on the glass that had so many times been left on his skin, "You know I really shouldn't be seen talking with you. I do not wish to be perceived as a threat."

He quickly stepped away from Jack Crawford and smiled as he pointed towards Carolyn and excused himself.

"Frederick," he heard her announce happily as she reached her hands out to him. Her eyes glittered from the effects of the expensive white wine.

"And how is everyone treating you," he asked as he felt her warm hands wrap around his arm as she leaned in close to him to whisper into his ear.

"I've never felt so classy before," she whispered with a smile on her wine stained lips, "the food looks amazing. I wish we hadn't had stopped to eat beforehand."

He felt a shiver run down his spine as her breath moved against his ear. He'd never been to a party where a woman happily stood beside him.

"You will never know just how happy you make me, Frederick," she whispered with that sultry voice that had always sent him over the edge. He wanted to taste the wine on her lips, but he'd never been one to public displays of affection that went beyond dancing and hand holding.

A cold shiver rushed through him as a sense of urgency and foreboding overcame him. He forced himself to pull his attention away from his beautiful lover to see Hannibal looking over at them both. He suddenly felt the need to grab Carolyn and run far away as Hannibal gave him a quick wink and a smile before taking a sip of his glass of wine.

The horrible feeling didn't evaporate from his mind as he felt Carolyn pat his hand. He felt like something very bad was going to happen in the near future and Hannibal was going to be the one to cause those events.

"We should go say goodbye," Carolyn purred into his ear as she squeezed his arm lightly, "I still owe you a kiss for the flowers and I'd prefer if we were in a more intimate scene, don't you?"


	6. The World Slipped Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is only one chapter left. You guys are going to hate me. There's so many emotions within this chapter. I'm so sorry for the conflicting emotions that may happen by the end of this chapter.

Frederick stretched out on his bed, his bones popped with his movements and he moaned as the sleep fell from his eyes. His hair was messy and his eyes were puffy from the good night sleep that he had received. The other side of his bed was empty and he smiled at the indention of Carolyn's body that she left that would always remind him that she was a real being that occupied his bed.

He smiled as he listened to the soft pitter-patter of Carolyn's feet on his bathroom floor as she prepared herself for her work day. He could hear her spitting water and toothpaste into the sink and he could hear her soft cussing about how her hair refused to stay in the right place.

"You're up early," he called out to her as his fingers ran absently along the bottom hem line of his black tee.

He felt like he was one half of a happily married couple that had really great sex. Everything had become so domesticated between the two of them so fast, but it hadn't taken away from the fantastic feelings that always felt new and right when they made love.

"One of the waitresses called in sick," he heard her answer from behind the bathroom door, "They asked if I could come in."

"You should have told them no," he informed her as he continued to lounge on the bed, his eyes moved from the door to the ceiling, "it is your birthday after all."

"It's only half a day," Carolyn answered, "and I could use the extra cash to pay off the rest of my tuition."

He looked away from the ceiling and back to her as her sweet voice filled the bedroom once again. He felt his heart stop as he viewed her in the morning light. He had seen her so many times like this, and each time it took his breath away. She stood in the door frame in nothing but a lacy white slip and matching bra.

She was still a vision in white.

He didn't try to hide his gaze from her as his eyes grazed over her body, slowly taking in each freckle and imperfection on her body. He'd memorized where each freckle painted her skin and if he had possessed any artistic skill at all he could have drawn her with every detail realistically put in place.

"I can give you some money if you need it," he answered with a shrug as he watched her turn away from him, giving him the perfect view of her backside as she bent over to pull her hair into a high ponytail before slipping into her uniform for the day.

"I'm not asking you to help me with this, Frederick," she answered as she leaned over to finish with her make-up that he knew she had started on as soon as she woke up and pulled herself out of their bed.

"No, but I can help you," he insisted as he pulled himself out of bed with the help of his cane that lay against the bed frame, "you are someone I care about," he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him, "and it is your birthday."

He felt her shaky breath leave her as she laughed at his advances. He felt the warmth of her body against his chest. He felt the fiery warmth inside of him grow hotter as her fingers absently ran over his arm hair as he held her in the tight embrace. He placed his lips upon her shoulder and kissed her softly.

"You're going to make me late," he heard her whisper in his ear as she laid her head back against his shoulder in a successful tactic to give him more access to touch her neck just like she enjoyed, "…again."

He smiled at that last word that escaped her lips. They had both been late on several of the colder, snowy mornings, but he felt it was worth it. The patients in his asylum would remain insane for the time being, but he had finally been given the gift of a warm and loving embrace of a beautiful woman and he was going to take every spare moment that he was given to be with her before he had to go back to eventually making a name for himself.

He watched as she turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He placed a kiss upon her lips and smiled at her as they slowly made their way back to the bed. Her knees buckled against the mattress and they fell upon the bed in a loving embrace.

Frederick couldn't help but smile at her. He slowly touched her cheek and removed a stray strand of hair from her face. He so desperately wanted to tell her those three words that had been dancing on the tip of his tongue for the longest time.

"What," he heard her ask and he soon realized that he had been staring at her without saying anything.

He shook his head at her question and replied, "I was just looking at you."

"Why," she asked.

Frederick could see the little worry lines that crossed her face as she laid under his chest. He moved slightly to make sure she was comfortable underneath him and he smiled as she adjusted herself underneath him.

"Is there something on my face?"

He didn't answer as he took in the woman that had changed his life so dramatically.

"Frederick," she whispered and placed her hand upon his cheek, "What's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong," he heard himself whisper to her as he pulled her hand away from his cheek to place soft, light kisses upon her hand, "I was just thinking about you."

She shifted under him and smiled, "What about me?"

"I was just thinking about the colors that you brought into my life," he revealed as he took in her sparkling eyes and the way her lips turned upwards in a shy smile, "you've made me happier than I have ever been or could ever dream of being."

"Frederick," she whispered as she leaned forward and placed a loving kiss upon his lips. Her fingers caressed his cheeks and slowly moved into his hairline as the kiss deepened.

He held in the moan that wished to escape him as he felt her fingers swim through his hair. An act that always drove him crazy. He slowly, reluctantly broke the kiss and positioned himself above her. He hadn't been able to be on top of her because of his limited activities, but he could please her in other ways.

"What are you doing," he heard her ask as he slowly, teasingly caressed her skin with the tips of his fingers.

He trailed his fingers down her thighs as he kissed softly at the small scar on her belly like she had done to his scars plenty of times. He softly placed apologetic kisses upon the old memory as his fingers drew circles upon her thighs as he took his time apologizing with sweet kisses.

"Frederick," she whispered with a shaky, husky tone that sent his mind reeling. He could feel the blood rushing through his abdominal region as he caressed her.

He looked up to Carolyn from under his lashes to see her head lulled back and her lids fluttering from the touches that he was giving her. If he were asked months ago, he'd say that he would never be pleasing a woman like this.

The smell of her perfume lingered on her skin and it tasted better than the wine that Hannibal Lecter served at all of his fancy cannibal dinner parties.

"I'm wishing you a happy birthday," he answered as he pulled the bottom of her slip upwards and let it sit forgotten on her hips.

He slowly let himself slip off of the bed where he sat on his knees and pulled her white panties slowly off of her legs where he let them fall to the floor. He placed himself between her legs. The anticipatory breaths that were escaping her chest caused the pumping of his blood to pump even faster. Small beads of sweat seeped through the skin of his forehead just as he placed a small kiss upon the small indentions on her flesh that her panties had left their before he pleased her any further.

Her fingers rushed through his hair and tugged ever so slightly as he slowly teased her with soft kisses before. She was pushing him over the edge with her shaky breathing and the way her fingers danced through his dark hair.

The only thing that he could think about as she shoved his head between her legs after growing tired of his teasing kisses was hoping that he could be good at this act because he'd only seen it done in old porno videos that his cousins had showed him when he was a teenager. He'd never had the chance to perform this act and he was nervous, though he wasn't going to let her know that.

He just really hoped that she'd be happy at the end of this experience.

...

Carolyn bit her lip as she thought of her morning with Frederick. Her cheeks felt red as she thought about what had occurred between the two of them after he had revealed to her that she had brought colors to his life…which still wasn't an I Love You Carolyn Long, but it was close.

She needed to get this giddiness out of her. She couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Cheryl," she heard herself ask with a slyness that she had never heard her voice carry before, "Can I ask you something?"

"Go for it kiddo," Cheryl answered as she filled ketchup bottles before the lunch rush bombarded them.

"It's kind of personal," she explained, "so I get it if you don't want to answer. I just need to get something off my chest."

"Hit me with your best shot."

"Okay," she whispered and took a deep breath, "have you ever, uhm," she looked around for eavesdroppers and leaned closer to her older friend with a shy smile, "have you ever screamed during, you know…"

"Sex," Cheryl asked.

"Well, not exactly," Carolyn said, "It was," she gave a naughty smile and looked towards the hem of her yellow dress, "…you know."

She watched as Cheryl's eyes grew wide in shock at her confession.

"Lover Boy went down on you?!"

"Shhh! Not so loud," she shushed in horror as she quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard. Relief came over her as she realized that everyone was busy in the kitchen to be paying attention to their conversation.

"He's never went down on you before," Cheryl asked in astonishment.

She shook her head as her face turned bright red, "This morning was the first time. I've never had that happen before. So I'm just curious, I've never screamed during," she bit at her lip in embarrassment before continuing, "those kinds of things."

"And you screamed," Cheryl asked, still in disbelief.

"Yeah," she whispered with a small nod, "it's never happened so fast like that."

"God damn," Cheryl whispered with a shake of her head as if she were regretting some life choices that she had made, "I should have been nicer to that man."

"It was a birthday present," she informed her friend and co-worker, "and it was a damned good one."

"I can't believe you screamed," Cheryl answered, "You know I've only screamed twice in all of the relationships that I've had and it wasn't because of being eat out. He must have a feisty tongue. I can't believe I almost spat in his coffee."

"Cheryl," Carolyn teased with a smile, "that's not funny!"

"So what else is Lover Boy got planned for your birthday?"

"We're going out to dinner," she answered, "That's all I know. He texted me to tell me he had a big surprise for me earlier."

"Maybe he's got an engagement ring," Cheryl concluded with a shrug, "Did he kiss you after he ate you out? Does he kiss you after you blow him?"

"Yeah," she asked in slight confusion and her cheeks burned with slight embarrassment, "What does that matter?"

"He's a keeper," Cheryl informed her with sly smile, "When a man kisses you after all of that, he's in love. You're getting a wedding proposal tonight, girlie."

"He hasn't told me he's loved me yet," she revealed with a sigh, "but I haven't told him that I love him yet either. Maybe tonight is the night we will finally tell each other those three little words."

"So you would say yes?"

She giggled at the question and replied, "Do you even need to know the answer to that question because I think you already know it."

...

Frederick smiled as he watched Carolyn sip at her white wine as she gazed at the beautiful décor of the very expensive restaurant that Hannibal Lecter had suggested to him weeks before. Perfumed roses wafted in the air around them and chamber music played somewhere in the distance as they dined at a table in the middle of the eating establishment.

Her dress was deep dark red, a dress that he had bought for her and sent to her while she had been working. He had known that the dress would make that beautiful shine in her eyes pop, and he hadn't been wrong. It was simple in style just like she preferred.

The dress fit her like a glove and showed off all the right things in all the right places. As he looked at her in the knee length dress, his thoughts strayed to the white slip that he had shoved up around her hips during their pleasant encounter that morning. He tried to keep those thoughts at bay. He didn't want to think about the beautiful moans that she had made because of him while sitting at a table in a very crowded restaurant.

"Do you like the dress," he asked as they waited for their food to be brought to them.

"I love it, Frederick," she replied with a thankful smile, "but you really didn't have to get me a new dress. I have plenty, and it was far too expensive."

He smiled at her as he took another sip of his own wine and said in a matter of fact tone, "I saw it. I thought of you. I bought it for you."

"And it's not that I'm not thankful for it," she answered as she lightly touched the hems of the skirt of the dress, "it's just you don't have to buy me things all the time."

"It's not all the time," he answered with a shy smile, he wanted to smooth this situation out before it got any messier, "it's for your birthday. I thought you deserved to have a new dress."

"I'm not mad at you," he heard her say with a clear voice, "I just don't want people to get the wrong impression of me what with you buying me all of these things."

Frederick felt a pang of guilt bubble through him. He'd never thought about what other people would have thought about her. The only person that had made a big deal over him dating a waitress was Abel Gideon.

"Well I hope you don't hate me, but I did get you something else," he informed her as he dug into his pocket. He watched her carefully and he could see her breath catch in her chest.

He watched as her lip trembled as he dug deeper into his pocket, purposely making her sit on the edge of her seat in anticipation. He wanted to see the effect that the suspense had on her.

"What is it," she asked with a slow growing smile.

"You'll see," he replied as he pulled a small, sealed pink envelope out of his pocket and slid it across the small table towards her.

He watched with a proud smile as she opened the envelope. He watched as she smiled as she read the front of the Hallmark card that he had chosen for her a week ago. He watched as the small white receipt fell from the card and into her lap. His heart beat with anticipation for her to discover what he had done for her.

"What's this," he heard her ask as she picked the paper up and looked at it with curiosity in her eyes and a large smile on her lips.

"What is this Frederick," she asked, her voice was flat and void of any emotion as she glared at the receipt that had been placed within the folds of her birthday card.

Frederick watched in confusion as her smile faded, the shine in her eyes faded, and her brows furrowed.

"I thought I could help you out," he admitted and a small smile that painted his face from uncomfortableness, "but from seeing that look on your face that you are-"

"I told you that I didn't need your help," she interrupted him flatly.

He could feel the daggers that she was throwing at him as she glared at him.

"It was just-"

"I told you that I didn't need your help with this Frederick," she informed him again.

"Yes I know, but," he tried to explain as a sense of shame and worry came over him. He'd never seen her become so angry with him before. They had had their little spats in the past, but this was something completely different. He'd never seen the shine in her eyes fade away so quickly.

Fear started to bubble inside of him.

"Then why did you pay off my tuition, Frederick? I told you that I was taking care of it," she informed him.

He watched as her bottom lip trembled as she tried so desperately to keep the angry tears that were forming in her eyes from falling in front of him.

"Is that what's this been about," he heard her whisper, "Do you get off on buying things for me because I'm just a waitress. Is that what this is," she shook her head as a tear betrayed her and fell down her cheek and landed upon the tuition receipt, "God! I should have known that a man like you could never actually be in love with some stupid, poor waitress like me."

He watched helplessly as he listened to her voice crack from the need to sob. He felt horribly ashamed of himself.

"I was right," she said as she stood from the table, "I was such an idiot to believe that our stations in life don't matter."

"Carolyn," he heard himself say, his own voice cracked as he looked up at her, tears filled his own eyes as he watched her try so bravely to keep her head held high, "that's not true. I-"

"No," she whispered as she held her hand out to him and grabbed her purse, "I'm leaving," she shook her head at him, "Don't call me, Frederick."

Frederick watched helplessly as she turned her back on him and hurried out of the restaurant. He could feel the eyes of the patrons looking at him. They hadn't heard what she had said to him because she had been soft with her words, but they had seen her crying and leaving the table in a hurry. He could feel their judgmental eyes and could hear their whispers to each other.

He'd never felt like a bigger idiot than he did at this moment. He'd finally screwed it up with her like he had hoped would never happen. He'd screwed up and he didn't know how he was going to get her back. He never had gotten the chance to tell her how much he loved her and now he would never have that chance.

She had entered his life and had disappeared just as quickly as she had appeared, and she had left him with the check at a restaurant just like all the others had done to him.

He felt like kicking himself for letting himself believe that things could really change for the better for him. He'd been the biggest fool, and he had been the biggest idiot for letting her walk out on him.

...

Carolyn allowed the tears to fall freely down her cheeks as she made her way quickly down the empty street. Only a few stragglers and late night workers scurried by her as she fiddled with her cell phone. Her hands shook as she tried dialing Cheryl's number.

"Come on Cheryl," she whispered through the sobs as the phone rang, "Pick up. Pick up. Pick up!"

The call went to voice mail and she groaned in anger. She felt like throwing her cell phone into the brick walls of the buildings that she passed. She looked around and sighed. There were no taxis in sight for her to take home.

She was lost in the middle of Baltimore with no way home. She didn't want to have to go back to Frederick like a dog with its tail between its legs just to get a ride home. She had more pride than that.

"Fuck," she cried as she pulled her jacket closer to her body as the cold wind blew through the street.

"Ms. Long," she heard a familiar, foreign voice say from beside her.

Carolyn turned quickly to see Dr. Lecter standing at his car with a brown grocery bag that had little green leaves peeking out the top of it.

"What are you doing in the streets at this time of night," he asked, "without Dr. Chilton?"

She walked closer towards him and bit at her trembling lip in an attempt to calm her nerves. She had only met the man once, but something about him lured her to him. He was a friend of Frederick's so she knew that she could trust him to take her home if he would.

"We broke up," she said with a shaky tone. She wiped the tears from her face and smiled, "I'm such an idiot to think that…"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she looked around the city as the cold wind blew through them both.

"May I drive you home," Hannibal offered.

"I couldn't ask you to do that," she heard herself answer out of politeness, "I've been trying to get in touch with a girlfriend from work. If she'll ever answer the phone, she could pick me up."

"I insist that you allow me to drive you home," Hannibal continued as he opened the passenger door for her and held it open for her.

"I don't want you to have to go out of your way, Dr. Lecter," she confessed.

"It's no trouble at all, Ms. Long," Hannibal answered before he told her a lie, "Frederick is a friend, and as such I couldn't let the one woman that he cares about to be alone on the street in the middle of the night."

"Thank you," she said as she gave him a soft smile, "This is awful nice of you, Doctor."

"And perhaps on the way to your home, we could talk about Frederick."

"Is it going to cost me by the hour," she asked with a soft chuckle, thankful for the good doctor at the moment.

"Not at all," he answered with a smile as she sat in the passenger seat, "I know how feisty Frederick's tongue can be. It's gotten him in trouble before."

"Well," she said as she shyly thought about the things that Frederick had done with his tongue that morning, "it wasn't his tongue that got him in trouble. It was his wallet."

"Let me just put my ingredients in the trunk and we'll continue this conversation on the way to your home," Hannibal informed her as he shut the passenger door.

As the car drive went on, the two talked about Frederick. Hannibal had reasoned with her that Frederick was the type of man that simply just wanted the best and that he had only tried to make her happy with the only thing that he knew how to make people happy with.

"I suppose you're right," she heard herself tell him, "I don't think I overreacted though. I had told him not to pay my tuition, and he did it anyways."

"And I'm very sorry for you Carolyn," he informed her.

She turned to him and looked at him with slight confusion in her tired, tearstained eyes, "Why are you sorry?"

"For what's going to happen to you."

Carolyn felt the confusion grow inside of her mind as she watched him stop at the red light.

"What's going to happen to me, Dr. Lecter," she asked as she watched him for any clear sign of danger.

She didn't see the danger until it was too late. She felt his hands against her head as he slammed her head into the window multiple times until her world went black and her life was placed in Hannibal Lecter's hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I lie about the emotions?


	7. I Cross My Heart

Frederick sat across from the one woman that he did not want to see. He had been drugged, framed for murder, and chased all because he had decided to believe Will Graham. His world had slipped away from in less than 24 hours.

His career was gone.

His freedom was gone.

His good name was gone.

Carolyn, the most important thing in his life, was gone.

She hadn't answered his phone calls after she left him alone. She hadn't answered his calls when he woke up after a long night of boozing it up to chase the shame away. She hadn't answered when he was trying to find a place to hideout, which had led him to Will Graham's residence in the middle of nowhere. She hadn't answered to listen to him beg her to leave the country with him so he wouldn't be alone in exile.

His waitress was gone.

Carolyn was gone and wasn't ever going to take him back. Not after news broke about the Chesapeake Ripper.

He knew that she'd be ashamed to have people know that she had been with him.

He felt emptiness in his chest that made him feel like the world was pressing down on him. He was alone in this horrible world again, and he wasn't sure how he could survive these unfortunate circumstances without Carolyn there to hold his hand.

The room was both too cold and too hot. It was both too bright and too dark. The psychiatrist that sat across from him glared at him as if he were dog shit that she had stepped in on her way inside Will Graham's dog infested home.

It was all an act to make him crack, and it would have worked if he were actually the Chesapeake Ripper.

"Does it have to be you," he heard himself ask as he looked over to Alana Bloom who sat across from him.

He'd found that he lost what little respect he had for her after she refused to even consider Hannibal Lecter to be the Chesapeake Ripper.

"It seems like one final indignity," he said sadly as he thought about all he had been through with Carolyn and the Chesapeake Ripper.

"It's not like you to hide an achievement," Alana informed him.

He could hear the distaste in her words as she stared him down from across the table.

"The achievement is not mine," he answered with finality.

"Whose is it," she asked, "Hannibal Lecter's?"

"Those are just words coming out of your mouth. No weight to them. No consideration that they may be true."

"They are not true," he heard her say with anger clearly in her words as she leaned into the table.

He had always known that she had a strong distaste for him, but he'd never in a thousand years thought that she would put her own beliefs before what was happening in reality.

"You were using coercive therapies, influencing Abel Gideon and Will Graham to point the investigations in false directions," she informed him as if she knew the real truth behind everything.

She was wrong about everything.

"You cannot see it," he heard himself inform her quickly, "and you will not see it until it is too late. Don't say I did not warn you, Dr. Bloom."

Frederick watched as she slammed the velvet box that had remained in his jacket pocket onto the table. Confusion filled his mind as he looked at the bloodstained box.

"Then explain why the ring from this empty box was found on Carolyn Long's mutilated finger," Alana asked, her anger betrayed her.

His felt his heart stop at the mention of Carolyn's name. He felt his body shake at the thought of Carolyn being gone.

"Explain why Carolyn Long was found in a wedding dress splayed out on your bed, Frederick," Alana demanded as she glared daggers into him.

He shook his head and his bottom lip trembled as he reached for the empty box and held it tightly in his hands. Hannibal had known about his plans to give her the ring and he was using it against him.

"Did she refuse to marry you," Alana asked, "Is that why you mutilated her? Or was it because of the baby?"

"Baby," he asked in confusion as his lip trembled freely.

"Carolyn was pregnant," Alana informed him harshly, "Are you telling me you didn't know about that?"

He felt nausea come over him at the revelation that Alana had dumped upon him like a bucket of cold water. His hands shook as anger, sadness, and defeat radiated throughout his body.

"Is she," he had to stop as he finally felt a sob forming in his throat as he thought about losing her in a new way, "Is she…"

"Jack said you came to him earlier," Alana informed him with words that were as cold as ice as she changed the subject back to him, "He said that you told him that Hannibal made a joke about eating your tongue. You want to throw the blame at Hannibal Lecter's feet to confuse the-"

"I would never do anything to hurt her," he insisted in a level tone as he tried to keep calm under the pressure that was being shoved upon his tired shoulders. He forcefully buried the sob down deep inside of his chest.

"Then why is she laying in a hospital bed," Alana asked, her voice was low, "She fought against you. Those scratches on your back prove that she fought against-"

"We made love before…"

He shook his head as he thought of Carolyn in a hospital bed hooked up to machines. The thought made him sick to his stomach. He had kept her out of his work to make sure that she had stayed out of danger, but in doing so he had put her in even more danger. If he had only told her about Hannibal the Cannibal, then she wouldn't be in the hospital.

He had never wanted a child before, but the reality that the one woman he loved had lost her child cut deep into his chest.

"I did not hurt Carolyn," he replied, his voice was flat as he tried to focus on keeping himself from death row, "You just can't see it. Hannibal Lecter is a monster. You can't see it, and you won't see it until it's too late."

He glared at the woman that had tried to blame him for harming the one person in this world that had decided to fall in love with him and who he loved in return.

"In fact," he added, "I believe these should be my last words on the Ripper until my lawyer arrives."

The only thing that was running through his mind was Carolyn's predicament. He had gotten her too close to Hannibal and she had only been to one of his parties. Hannibal had known about the ring and had used it against him.

Hannibal Lecter truly was a monster to hurt an innocent woman that knew nothing about him.

Hannibal Lecter was the devil on earth to be able to hurt Carolyn who had never done anything wrong to anyone.

Frederick's eyes widened as understanding finally dawned on him. Hannibal Lecter went after Carolyn because it wasn't that hard to believe that he could have told her everything about his career. Hannibal had made him his patsy and Carolyn was just a chess piece that could be moved around for him.

He needed to let Jack Crawford know that if Carolyn was still alive that she needed to be protected from Hannibal, but just as he opened his mouth to voice his concern, the glass that separated the interrogation room from the snooping box shattered.

He watched in frightened silence as the bullet travelled so quickly that he had almost missed it coming at him. He felt the bullet tear through his face and exit out the back of his skull. There was no pain as he slumped from his sitting position.

The last thing that he heard before his world went black was Jack Crawford screaming and the soft voice of Carolyn whispering that he made her happy. As her faint words passed through his mind, he could only hope that he survived just to hear his angel say that she loves him.

...

Carolyn woke to the sound of the constant beeping of the machines that monitored her heart rate. The gauze that wrapped around each individual finger itched from the missing nails that Hannibal had ripped off in an attempt to hide all evidence of their previous altercation. Her eyes burned and her throat felt raw from all of the screaming that she had done when she first tried to escape Hannibal Lecter, which landed her in a whole new mess.

She knew she should have just listened to him, but her stubbornness had forced her to find a way to escape. She hadn't rolled over on her belly when she was attacked in her old office by violent men that had been searching for her boss. She'd fought them back and survived.

She had fought off Hannibal Lecter and he had let her survive. Though she had no idea for how long he would let her live.

Her eyelids were heavy from the amount of morphine that the hospital had injected her with to keep her sedated and out of the pain that would hit her at full force soon if they did not deliver her another injection.

They doctors had told her the horrible news as soon as she was awake and fully able to comprehend the situation.

She'd never speak again.

The trauma that she had experienced at Dr. Lecter's hands had caused her body to abort the fetus that had started to grow inside of her. She hadn't even suspected that she was pregnant, but it didn't take away the pain that burned inside of her for the loss of something special that she and Frederick had created together.

Hannibal had ruined lives. He was the devil.

She could feel that her face was puffy from the swelling of having what was left of her tongue sewn up by Hannibal after he had cut her tongue out to insure that she kept her mouth shut.

Her eyes slowly scanned the small hospital room that she had been placed in. The FBI had set her up in a private room so she could fully recover from her injuries.

Her lips trembled as pink tulips came into her view. They sat in a very beautiful, very expensive glass vase. They brightened the dark room, but they sent an uncontrollable, fearful shiver down her spine as her eyes lingered on the simple card that leaned against the case.

'-H'

It was the only thing that was written on the case, and she knew exactly who the flowers had been from. Hannibal Lecter had been in her room while she was under the effects of the drugs.

Her swollen lips trembled as hot tears formed in her eyes. Her body shook like a leaf in the autumn air as it tried to hold on to dear life to the twig that it had spent its entire life on. The fear was overtaking her body and pushing her into a panic as she glared at the pink tulips.

"You've awoken," his voice rippled through the white noise of the hospital machinery and air conditioner, "I've been waiting for you to wake up, Carolyn. May I call you Carolyn?"

She turned her head to see him standing in the door frame with sparkling eyes that almost seemed red as the light reflected off of them.

He was the devil. He had come to collect on her soul.

Her body shook violently as she watched him edge closer and closer to her. Her chest tightened as she watched him smile at her with those vile teeth and that tongue that could tempt an angel to sin. The tears fell freely from her eyes and drenched her face.

"Jack Crawford of the FBI has sent me to speak with you," Hannibal informed her as he stood at her side.

She watched as he slowly pulled her hand from the bed and inspected the bandages that covered her mutilated hands. It was then that she noticed the ring on her finger. The diamond glinted in the soft light of the hospital room and her heart sank.

"They wanted me to speak to you about Frederick Chilton," he admitted, "and what he did to you."

She shook her head back and forth as the tears continued to stream down her cheeks and soak her hospital gown and the pillow that she laid on.

"I also wanted to offer my condolences about your loss," Hannibal informed her as his eyes traveled away from her fearful eyes to her stomach, "The trauma was too much for it-"

Her sniffles and deep breath forced him to stop speaking for only a moment. She could feel his eyes peering into her soul as he patted her fingernail less hand.

"They are going to want a statement from you about the trauma that Frederick put you through," he said flatly.

Carolyn shook her head at his words as the tears burned her skin.

"It would be a terrible tragedy if something should happen to Frederick while he's in recovery," he stated simply.

She looked up at him with worry in her eyes. Confusion painted her pained, swollen face. She wanted to scream to anyone that would listen what he had done and who he was, but he had taken that power away from her.

"There was an attempt to take his life by a surviving victim of the Chesapeake Ripper," he added, "He's lucky to be alive. I suspect it was seeing you again that kept his heart beating."

He was strategically using her love for Frederick against them to ensure that he remained free.

She closed her eyes for only a moment to calm her nerves. She was quick on her feet, she'd always been able to think things through, and the idea came to her quickly as she forced herself to look back up at Hannibal.

She sighed and shook her head, agreeing to play his game if only to keep Frederick alive.

He smiled at her and winked at her as he replied with a pat upon her hand, "There's a good girl."

Carolyn watched in a silent rage as he turned and left her alone in her private hospital room. The rage that bubbled inside of her could rival any rage that she imagined Godzilla harbored against any large metropolitan area or the rage that Lucifer held against humankind.

For the first time in her life, she had wished that she was a violent person that could stand her ground against men like Hannibal Lecter.

But she was just a waitress that didn't have a violent bone in her body.

As the door closed behind Hannibal, she forced herself out of the bed. Her bare feet touched the cold floor and she stumbled for only a moment before forcing herself towards the table that held the gift he had sent her.

Carolyn grabbed the fine glass vase and threw it to the ground. She ignored the pain that came from the pressure on her fingers as the rage bubbled through her body. The sound of glass shattering and water splashing upon the white tiled floor rippled through the room. She felt like falling to the floor in defeat as she thought over what Hannibal Lecter was doing to her Frederick.

"Are you okay," she heard a soft voice ask from the door.

She turned quickly to see a very thin, fashionable red head staring at her with concern on her face. She tried to calm her nerves as her chest heaved up and down in anger and panic.

"You're Dr. Chilton's girlfriend, aren't you," the woman asked.

Carolyn closed her eyes and nodded as she thought back to how horrible she had been to him the night before all because he had been nice enough to pay her attention.

He could be on his death bed and the last thing that she had said to him had been said in anger. Regret bubbled inside of her.

She slowly nodded to the woman.

"My name is Freddie Lounds," the woman informed her as she walked into the room, "from Tattle Crime. I was with Dr. Chilton when…"

Carolyn nodded as she watched the red head slowly kneel over to pick up the small shards of glass from the vase.

"I'm sorry for what has happened to you," Freddie said as she stood to throw the glass and flowers into the trash, "They are saying that Dr. Chilton is the Chesapeake Ripper."

She shook her head and looked down at the ring that sparkled on her finger. She had known that Frederick would eventually give her a ring, but she hadn't wanted it at the expense of their happiness and his freedom.

"Ms. Lounds," a deep voice announced with anger laced within his tone, "What are you doing here?"

Carolyn pulled her attention to the door once again to see Jack Crawford standing with an unreadable look on his face. She'd expected Cheryl and Sammy to be visiting, not strangers and her attempted murderer to be dropping by.

"I'm a friend of Carolyn's, Jack," Freddie lied, "I'm not leaving her."

"Is this true," Jack asked of her.

She looked over at Freddie and then down to the mess that she had cleaned up. She turned to Jack and nodded. All she wanted to do was fall to the floor and sob from the stress that she was under. She'd never felt so defeated and pushed around in her life.

"First off," Jack said as he edged closer to her with his hands held out to her to show an act of good faith in case she was jumpy around men, "I wanted to offer my condolences. I can't imagine what you are even feeling right now, but we really need a statement from you, and the sooner we can get that the sooner we can get this mess figured out."

She simply nodded and waited with shaking nerves for him to ask her the questions that he had.

"Are you aware of what Dr. Chilton is being accused of," he asked, "and of what happened to him after he was taken into custody?"

She nodded. She closed her eyes and wished that she hadn't been rendered a mute. She so desperately wished that she could speak.

"Did he do this to you? Is Frederick Chilton the Chesapeake Ripper?"

Carolyn looked around the room and sobbed. She ignored the pain as she quickly shook her head and attempted to say "no" but the simple word came out as a banshee-like wail, pathetic sound that could be compared to the sad cries of an animal dying alone in the woods.

Carolyn shivered and shook in her place as she continued to shake her head. The tears fell freely as she stood in front of them. She couldn't tell them who the Chesapeake Ripper was, but she could make damn sure that they knew it was not Frederick.

"But you know who the Chesapeake Ripper is," Jack asked as he watched Carolyn begin to break.

"Jack," Freddie warned softly.

"Did the Chesapeake Ripper threaten you," Jack continued in a hard voice as he tried to extract information from her.

"If he threatened you, we can protect me."

The rage that was already bubbling inside of her began to bubble over and she quickly pulled Freddie's cellphone away from her and began rapidly texting out a statement before handing it back to the red head.

"What did she say," Jack asked as he ignored Carolyn's sad eyes.

She watched as Freddie looked from her phone and back at her before revealing what she had requested.

"She wants to see him."

"I can't let you-"

Carolyn felt the sob escape her and she looked over to the tubes that connected her to the machines. She shook her head and jerked on the cords.

"Jack, just let her go to him," Freddie informed him as if she were really Carolyn's friend, "What can she say to him?"

Carolyn sobbed as she slowly pulled the IV out of her hand and threw it upon the bed. She was going to Frederick even if she would be placed under arrest for doing so.

She needed him like her father had needed a shot of whiskey every night.

She wasn't going to let him be alone anymore, and she couldn't be alone anymore. She'd spent too long searching for him to let the FBI or a killer come between them.

"Let her go, Jack. She just wants to see him."

...

Frederick heard the door open and close softly. He couldn't see who had entered, but he was sure that it was most likely a new guard to stand watch over him. The cold metal of the handcuffs bit into his wrists as he lay helplessly in a drug induced fog.

He could feel his chest moving up and down, but the weight from knowing that Carolyn had been harmed pushed down on him. No amount of pain medicine could chase that pain away.

The familiar pitter patter of bare feet filled his ears and he slowly made himself look towards the door. He could see Carolyn standing in the dark room. He could see the swelling on her face, the bruising that was just begin to color her flesh, and the red tear stains that had fallen only moments before.

His heart felt heavy and his chest tightened as he watched her edge slowly towards him.

He knew there was no way that he could make it without her. He couldn't survive without her in his life. He just wanted to hear her say that she loved him. If she were to say that she loved him, he knew that he could live through anything.

"Caro," he stopped, the pain in his jaw rippled through him, "Lynnie."

He watched as she stood above him. Her eyes were filling with tears again as she looked upon him. He wanted to comfort her. He couldn't bare seeing her like this.

He hadn't received the full details of what Hannibal had done to her, but he could tell that whatever he did to her had been brutal. Her hands came into view and he could see the gauze wrapping around each individual finger from where Hannibal had ripped her nails from her nail bed.

He wanted to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be okay, and that they were safe now. The handcuffs sparkled in the dark room.

Carolyn was the only bright thing in his room. There were no flowers on his table or cards from well-wishers. Everyone had seemingly given up on him. If she were to laugh or smile, she could light up his room like the Fourth of July.

Everyone but Carolyn had given up on him. She was his only light in this dark world.

Tears fell from his eyes as he looked up at the waitress that had come into his life. They'd gone from small talk and little flirtations to being so far in love that even Hannibal Lecter couldn't break them.

He ignored the burning sensation that rippled through him from his salty tears. The way that she looked down at him, her eyes were clouded over from the drugs, but that sparkle still remained, told him that she loved him.

The cuffs and his injuries kept him flat on the bed, but he so desperately wanted to reach out to her and cup her cheek in his hands. He wanted to run his hands through her hair like she liked. He wanted to kiss her again.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, he bit through the pain.

He knew he would bite through any pain when it came to his Carolyn.

The sob that escaped her revealed to him how far the damages that Hannibal had brought upon her. He could see the stitches of what was left of her tongue.

He took a deep breath as nausea came over him momentarily as he thought about all the things that Hannibal had taken away from her. She'd lose her job, she'd never be able to make a joke with her friends again, she'd never be able to sing to her children, she'd be voiceless for the rest of her life.

Hannibal had cut her tongue out to keep her silent. Anger bubbled through him as he listened to her sobs of pain and heartache escape her bruised body. He couldn't hold her, but he could offer her something.

He lifted his fingers from the bed and the handcuffs jingled against the plastic of the hospital bed offering her his hand. He needed to hold her if he were to keep his sanity in this situation. The guilt and pain were too real.

The sudden touch of her wrapped hand sent warm chills through his body. The same chills that he had felt on their first date rippled through him as he watched her fall to her knees in pain and defeat. He felt her chapped lips against the palm of his hand and he held onto her hand tightly as they cried together in the darkness of the hospital room.

The heartache that seeped into the room was almost tangible like a fog rolling in over the ocean in the early mornings. It was almost too much for him to take in. He wanted to sob as the emotions tried to suffocate him.

"I love you," he finally revealed softly as he held her hand. He closed his eyes and wished that she could tell him those words back.

He was filled with so much regret. He had wished that he had told her sooner. He had wished that these revelations had happened one night before all of this mess. Regret bubbled inside of him.

He'd never hear those words escape her lips.

He closed his eyes and listened to Carolyn breath softly as she held his hand. He felt his heart stop as he felt her drawing on his palm. His heart stopped as he felt her finger form an "I", then the shape of a heart, and finally a simple "U".

He wanted to laugh at her declaration of love to him. It was cute. She'd always been the cute waitress and that label still shown through even if she was now the beautiful girlfriend.

He heard the mattress squeak for only a moment as he watched her pull herself from her current position. He moved ever so slightly as she crawled onto the side of the bed and cuddled against him.

Their hands never left each other as she settled herself beside his sore body. He was thankful that she was careful of his new wounds as she laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

They needed each other. She had been the lighthouse on the coast line while he just been the wandering ship at sea bringing in a fresh light.

The sound of the beeping machine was soon joined with her soft snores and he couldn't help the soaring of love that bubbled through him.

Everything would work out for them.

The world had finally given him someone that he could call his everything. He still could not believe that the cute waitress that he had thought about so often, the cute waitress that danced happily to La Bamba, and brought him extra coffee.

Carolyn Long was the miracle in his life that he never thought would come.

She was going to be his unborn children's mother one day. She was going to be the one that sat next to him in the rocking chair as the grandchildren played in their yard. She was going to be the only woman that he needed.

It was them against the world and he had faith that they could survive it as long as they were together.

In the dark hospital room with Carolyn's head against his chest and her hand still holding his tightly, he finally understood what all those old men had been saying about being in love with the only person in this world that matters.

For once in his life he had done something right and he'd give everything to make all of her dreams come true.

**Author's Note:**

> The Cute Waitress is based on my submission to imaginefrederickchilton on tumblr.


End file.
